Missing Years In Our Grateful Dead Retrospective: 1970s

As noted in our post announcing our July theme, we have concerts this month from every year in Grateful Dead history except the following 7:

• 1965, 1967 & 1968: no July soundboards available 
• 1975 & 1977: the band did not play in July those 2 years
• 1991 & 1993: the band did not play in July in those 2 years 

Since we want to make our Grateful Dead retrospective as complete as possible, we’ll bring you key moments in each of those 7 years in a series of 3 posts - one dedicated to the 3 missing years from the 1960s, one dedicated to the 2 missing years in the 1970s and one dedicated to the 2 missing years from the 1990s. So, with the post we cover the 1970s. A few days ago we covered the 1960s and stop back on on July 24 for the 1990s.

1975 in Grateful Dead History

• The Dead spend all of 1975 on hiatus from live touring.
• They play only 4 concerts in 1975, all in San Francisco: The SNACK Benefit on March 23, a show at Winterland on June 17, a concert at the Great American Music Hall om August 13, and a show in Golden Gate Park on September 28. 
• The band releases the studio album Blues For Allah in August. 
• Jerry Garcia tours with his own band and Legion of Mary, while Bob Weir tours with Kingfish.
• Garcia uses the year off from touring to produce The Grateful Dead Movie, which documents the band’s "Farewell Shows" at Winterland in October 1974.
• The only live show from 1975 that has been officially released in the August 13 performance at The Great American Music Hall. The show, released in 1991 as One From The Vault, was the first full live show to be released and became the genesis for future series such as Dick’s and Dave’s Picks. 

1977 in Grateful Dead History

• The Dead release the studio album, Terrapin Station, their first disc on Arista Records. 
• The Grateful Dead Movie, chronicling the band’s October 1974 “farewell concerts” at Winterland, is released. Jerry Garcia spent months producing the film during the band’s hiatus from touring in 1975. 
• The band’s spring tour running from April 22 to June 9 is the stuff of legends, with the May 8 performance at Barton Hall on the campus of Cornell University often cited as the Dead’s finest concert in their 30 year history. Almost the entire tour has been officially released, but ironically, the Barton Hall concert, as well as the shows the day before and after in Boston & Buffalo, which rival May 8 in quality and intensity, have not been! 
• The Dead play in front to 150,000 people on September 3 at Englishtown, NJ, the largest crowd to attend a concert in NJ History (and my very first Dead show). 
• In addition to the September 3 show at Englishtown, the following concerts from 1977 have been officially released: April 30; May 11. 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 25.& 28; June 7, 8 & 9; portions of concerts from October 11, 14 & 16; November 2, 4 & 5; and December 29.